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- Title
Changes in Mood among 4th Year Elementary School Students When Interacting with Dogs and Considerations: The Need for Animals in Elementary Education.
- Authors
Hiroko Fujisawa; Takayuki Kumasaka; Hideo Masu; Mika Kataoka
- Abstract
Objective: We focused on dogs, which are familiar in people's daily lives and about which there have not yet been reports on interaction with in elementary schools. On this occasion, we implemented interaction with dogs in elementary schools and investigated the changes in "mood" of the children when they interacted with them while also examining the necessity of animals in a school environment. Methods: The research participants were children who agreed to participate in the survey and who had no fear of animals. First we conducted an inquiring survey on the students who had desired to participate in the interaction in advance. They interacted freely with the animals. We conducted a face scale evaluation on them before and after the interaction. We conducted statistical processing on the data obtained using IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Especially regarding the face scale values, we found the mean values and the standard deviation and conducted a verification of the population mean value of the two corresponding groups. Also regarding the basic attributes, and face scale values by references toward animals, we found the mean values and the standard deviation and conducted a verification of the population mean value of the two corresponding groups. Results: The overall mean face scale value of the subjects wasl.04(± 1.44) before interaction and 0.29(± 0.67) after interaction, showing a significant difference (p < 0.01) before and after interaction. The mean face scale value of the boy subjects was 1.29(± 1.63) before interaction and 0.39(± 0.79) after interaction, showing a significant difference (p < 0.01) before and after interaction. The mean face scale value of the girl subjects was 0.75(± 1.15) before interaction and 0.17(± 0.48) after interaction, showing a significant difference (p < 0.05) before and after interaction. Conclusions: 1. Most of the children who interacted with dogs had experience interacting with dogs and were favorable toward togs. 2. Dogs were shown to have a "mood improving effect" on the children. 3. It is suggested that children who like dogs need "an environment with animals" and "an environment where they can interact with them any time". 4. Interaction with dogs in schools appears to have potential as a means for promoting mental health education.
- Subjects
AFFECT (Psychology); CHILD psychology; SCHOOL children; STUDENT attitudes; SURVEYS; PET therapy; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
International Medical Journal, 2016, Vol 23, Issue 6, p633
- ISSN
1341-2051
- Publication type
Article